Music

Brandy fans are no strangers to waiting, particularly when it comes to releasing new music. It’s why it came as a surprise that the veteran singer took a mere three-year gap between 2020’s “B7” — an album that took eight years to land — and “Christmas with Brandy,” her first holiday record arriving on Friday.

Karol G is set to take center stage, under the creative direction of Parris Goebel, at the upcoming Billboard Music Awards on Nov. 19. She joins the global lineup consisting of Peso Pluma from Mexico and NewJeans from South Korea, along with Bebe Rexha and David Guetta. Karol has had a big look this awards show season

Post Malone, Morgan Wallen and Hardy took the stage together at Wednesday’s CMA Awards to pay tribute to the late country legend Joe Diffie. Wallen and Hardy started together, running through Diffie’s 1993 song “John Deere Green,” before welcoming Malone to the stage to sing the 1994 hit “Pickup Man” as a trio. While Post

Antonio L.A. Reid, cofounder of LaFace Records and former head of Arista, Epic and Def Jam Records, has been accused of sexual assault and harassment in a lawsuit by former Arista executive Drew Dixon. The suit, which was filed Wednesday in Manhattan’s Federal District Court and obtained by Variety, claims that Reid assaulted her twice

Lainey Wilson didn’t have to wait long to win entertainer of the year, the top prize given out by the CA Awards. In only her second year of being nominated at all, and her first year getting a nod for the biggest trophy, the rising star claimed the big kahuna. She also prevailed for album

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Many of the most beloved country musicians will gather in Nashville on Tuesday night for the CMA Awards. The ceremony will take place from the city’s Bridgstone Arena at 8 p.m. ET on Nov.

Neil Portnow, the former chairman and president of the Recording Academy, was sued on Wednesday by a woman who claimed he drugged and raped her in a New York hotel room in 2018, according to the New York Times. The allegation had previously surfaced in 2020 as part of a blockbuster legal claim filed by

Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen tied for songwriter of the year of the BMI Country Music Awards, held Tuesday night at BMI’s building in Nashville. To commemorate the tie (which clearly had been communicated to the twin winners in advance), BMI cooked up another surprise: a climactic performance for the evening in which Wallen and

When it came time to write Slow Pulp’s sophomore album, in early 2021, Emily Massey decided to isolate herself in a cabin up in northern Wisconsin. “The first day, I full-body cried for hours,” the singer tells Variety. “I realized when I got there that I’d never been that alone. It was winter, so I

Gayle King spent three hours interviewing the historically private rapper and mogul Jay-Z for a primetime, hour-long special that will air on Nov. 14 (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT). The interview, dubbed “Jay-Z And Gayle King: Brooklyn’s Own,” will follow the series premiere of “NCIS: Sydney” on the CBS Television Network and also stream on Paramount+. Jay-Z

Timbaland has apologized after joking that Justin Timberlake “should have put a muzzle” on Britney Spears during an Oct. 29 live interview with 9th Wonder at the Kennedy Center. When taking a question from an audience member about the renewed interest toward the producer’s Timberlake collab “Cry Me a River” amid the release of Spears’

Nearly 10 years to the date that she released her debut album “Night Time, My Time” on Capitol Records, Sky Ferreira is apparently a free agent after years of public disputes with the label. Earlier today, fans took notice that Ferreira is no longer listed on Capitol’s website roster, fueling speculation that she had parted

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Barbra Streisand‘s behemoth memoir, “My Name Is Barbra,” officially comes out today. Clocking in at nearly 1,000 pages (997 to be exact), many will likely opt for the audio version, read by Streisand herself,

Ashley Gorley is always the odds-on favorite to win the songwriter of the year award at the ASCAP Country Music Awards. With the wind of a healthy amount of fresh Morgan Wallen tracks at his back, he was again shooed in for the top honor as the winners were announced Monday night in Nashville. His

Chlöe Bailey is best known as a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, but she’s proven just as talented on the boards, earning the Powerhouse Producer Award at the inaugural Girls Make Beats gala on Saturday night in Los Angeles. In her acceptance speech, Bailey acknowledged the female music producers who paved the way for her, including fellow honoree

It’s far from over for Taylor Swift. Following the release of her latest “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” Swift claims eight out of the top 10 slots on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart with her third No. 1 hit this year, “Is It Over Now?” The slot was previously held by her own “Cruel Summer,” which hit

As news about Spotify’s new payment model has torturously dribbled out — details have been leaked through sources, with little official comment from the company — it’s not surprising that controversy has accompanied it. Streaming royalty models are deeply complicated and Spotify, the world’s largest paid streaming service by a long measure, has borne the brunt of

Miranda Lambert and Jon Randall have jointly launched a new imprint called Big Loud Texas in partnership with Big Loud Records. Both Grammy winners will be directly involved in signing and developing artists on the roster but Randall will additionally serve as president of A&R for Big Loud Texas. “As a teenager chasing my dreams

SZA is named Hitmaker of the Year and Olivia Rodrigo, Metro Boomin and boygenius are among the top honorees at Variety’s seventh annual Hitmakers celebration. The Nov. 29 issue and accompanying event look back at the year in music and recognize the writers, producers, publishers, managers and executives who helped make — and break — the 25

Gannett, the biggest newspaper chain in the U.S., no longer has a blank space under the title of “Taylor Swift reporter.” The company has written in the name of Bryan West, a 35-year-old journalist from Arizona who has just moved to Nashville to fill the newly added, headline-making position. Starting today, West will be working

Taylor Swift‘s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” has now gone down on the books as giving the singer her best first week tally for an album ever. The release tops the Billboard 200 with 1.653 million equivalent album units. That puts it ahead of her previous personal best, which was 1.578 million for “Midnights,” released just over

Celine Dion, who has been out of sight dealing with a serious illness, is suddenly coming out in public in Las Vegas again — including an appearance as an audience member Saturday on the final night of Katy Perry‘s residency at the Resorts World Theatre, where Dion had to call off her own engagement two

As Doja Cat‘s “Scarlet Tour” touched down at L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena Thursday night for what was only its second date, fans were still learning about just what shape her first arena headlining shows would take. Title cards appearing on the big screens announced that it would be broken down into five parts — Acts I,

Four hours and 22 minutes is a long time to be doing anything except sleeping, even watching a state-of-the-art Rock and Roll Hall of Fame awards show that included Willie Nelson, Elton John, Sheryl Crow, Jimmy Page, Stevie Nicks and many more. Yet it’s a testament to the almost superhuman talent and vision of Missy

Across 30 studio albums since 1970, Buffett fueled his scenic songs’ tropical, country-ish lilt with a smart, conversational brand of daylight-noir storytelling. With the release of “Equal Strain on All Parts,” his last studio album completed before his death in September of this year, it can be said that Buffett continued to write and sing

Kate Bush has confirmed that she will not be in attendance tonight at the 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Brooklyn, New York. In a letter uploaded to her website, Bush explains she won’t be at the ceremony but “the real honour is knowing that you felt I deserved it,” she

The always star-studded Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be holding its 38th iteration on Nov. 3 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at 8 p.m. ET. The 2023 ceremony will be honoring Kate Bush, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliot, Willie Nelson, George Michael, Rage Against the Machine and The Spinners. This year,

Amazon Music closed out its current season of the Amazon Music Live series with a dynamic 50-minute set from Latto following Thursday Night Football. Broadcast simultaneously on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, the second season of the performance series has already featured a carousel of some of music’s biggest names, counting

It’s three days before the November 3 opening of Voltaire at Venetian Las Vegas, and Kylie Minogue, whose residency will launch the venue, is in her dressing room waiting on one last important detail. “We’ve entertained ourselves enough,” she tells Variety backstage as she prepares for another rehearsal. “Now, we need the magic ingredient: people.”

The philanthropic organization Global Citizen is teaming up with Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free’s company, pgLang, in an ambitious effort to establish a major music touring circuit across Africa. A kickoff event, “Move Afrika: Rwanda,” will take place Dec. 6 with the hip-hop superstar as the headliner. The December concert is being seen by Global